Hoopfest Friday 10/15

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Adunk33

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The first chance to see the squad in action will be this Friday after the volleyball game. Volleyball plays at 6 p.m. and Hoopfest will follow.
The Volleyball game is free to attend and if you haven't been before, they are always a good time.

I'm most intrigued to see McChesney. He seems to be the biggest question mark on the team. Hoping to see a somewhat competitive scrimmage as well as opposed to an all-star game kind of defensive effort, but I doubt it.

goredbirds.com

Redbird Athletics Announces Details for Hoopfest - Illinois State University Athletics

The Illinois State men's and women's basketball teams will be hosting their annual Hoopfest event. This year the free event will be on Friday, October 15 after the
goredbirds.com goredbirds.com
 
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DoubleDeuce

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I wish I could go...I'm really interested in seeing if Elijah Williams shows more athletic skill than the average walk-on.
 
SgtHulka

SgtHulka

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always fun to get a first glimpse of who stands out physically (running, jumping, build...)
 
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cubird

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The only practice I saw this summer McChesney appeared to have quick feet and can jump over guys around the rim. He was still slim, but I would use an old school description as “wiry”. He was on the wing shooting 3s.
 
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ILLST25

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With expectations at rock bottom, at least I can root for the underdog story of us coming out of no where. Excited to see what we’ve got
 
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Bdub777

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Well, you can’t tell much from 8 minutes of scrimmaging, but I didn’t leave overly excited or encouraged by anyone or anything I saw. Sy had a couple of good offensive plays, but there was no defense. The guys team beat the girls in the three point shooting contest and it looks like McChesney is accurate when unguarded. The fest ended with none of the players being able to make a dunk during their dunking exhibition.

They kicked off the Hoopsfest with a Simon Says contest with Steve Max…Ryan Schmitt is our best Simon Says player…
😀😀

Aside from the hired guy (probably a package deal with HoCo) it was kind of a pitifully produced event. No lighting or deejay or any of the type of stuff you see from other programs. No speeches from the coaches, and only some minor PA announcing….Too bad because there was actually a pretty good turnout…..

Hope my take is wrong, but this made me think that this team is going to really need to grow a lot to beat many people…
 
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Redbird222

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Bdub777 said:
Well, you can’t tell much from 8 minutes of scrimmaging, but I didn’t leave overly excited or encouraged by anyone or anything I saw. Sy had a couple of good offensive plays, but there was no defense. The guys team beat the girls in the three point shooting contest and it looks like McChesney is accurate when unguarded. The fest ended with none of the players being able to make a dunk during their dunking exhibition.

They kicked off the Hoopsfest with a Simon Says contest with Steve Max…Ryan Schmitt is our best Simon Says player…
😀😀

Aside from the hired guy (probably a package deal with HoCo) it was kind of a pitifully produced event. No lighting or deejay or any of the type of stuff you see from other programs. No speeches from the coaches, and only some minor PA announcing….Too bad because there was actually a pretty good turnout…..

Hope my take is wrong, but this made me think that this team is going to really need to grow a lot to beat many people…
Click to expand...
Simon says play defense!!
 
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Dmills

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My takeaways:
1. Reeves improved his handles a lot, was showing off a little bit. Still will have to wait and see if what he learned translates to team success. Didn't shoot real well in scrimmage, but seems to get to the rim pretty well.
2. Samuels has freakish hops and will be fun to watch once he's ready. I would expect him to redshirt this year
3. Concerned about our talent down low. We should be fine at the 4 but if Schmitt is our best option at the 5, I would be a little worried. It was a lazy scrimmage, but I think Ndiaye and Chatman are better options.
4. Was very unimpressed with Kotov, I don't see him playing a lot this season.
5. Chatman looked pretty good. If he can stay on the court this year and bring good attitude he can be a good player for us.
6. Not sure if McChesney is ready for the physicality. He has hops and decent shooting ability, but I do not think it will translate to games.
7. Johnson very well might be our best shooter.
8. Kendall Lewis should be solid for us.

My Starting Line up:
Mark Freeman
Josiah Strong
Antonio Reeves
Kendall Lewis
Abdou Ndiaye

I have Washington, Fleming Jr., and Chatman in the mix to start as well.

Edit: I do have to say there was absolutely no post touches in the "scrimmage", but I still am concerned how we will match up against the Darnell Brodie's down low
 
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D

DoubleDeuce

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DoubleDeuce said:
I wish I could go...I'm really interested in seeing if Elijah Williams shows more athletic skill than the average walk-on.
Click to expand...
I ended up going...my first hoopfest. I enjoyed it but as expected really nothing you can reliably ascertain about the team or players. I was very impressed with Jayden Johnson's three-point shooting but suspect he will only see the court sparingly. I did think Elijah Williams looked really nice athletically.
 
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redbirdron1

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Enjoyed putting faces to new guys and seeing the workout/show.

All comments will be positive -

Tony Wills man tail was tucked nicely in his top and looked very sharp.
Freeman, our potential PG is great video man.

Thought Kotov has added some upper body muscle - looks more physical.
Chapman returns! Looked very active and content vs 0 defense.

Lewis appears active and willing to mix it up.
Big guy Schmidt not allowed to get any touches inside......smart move to keep our half court offense a mystery.

Reeves - seems to have brought NBA skill tips back to team as W/O Johnson was the consistent shooter all night.
McCheeseWiz looks to run floor well for tall kid and will be a shooter. Time will tell how many makers we have on roster.

Reeves did seem very confident/capable with handles, Flem likes to run the show, Emon glue guy when lights go on, if Johnson can play D he should play due to being a shot maker, no clue who plays the 5 and 3-4 slots should bring nice competition. Like the Deuce said, Elijah has good look and hoping his athleticism translates to being a shot maker/D specialist.

My one takeaway is that we have 3 walk ons who will compete for All Conference Walk On team. Samuels too is a baller.
 
CaliRdBrd

CaliRdBrd

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Bdub777 said:
Well, you can’t tell much from 8 minutes of scrimmaging, but I didn’t leave overly excited or encouraged by anyone or anything I saw. Sy had a couple of good offensive plays, but there was no defense. The guys team beat the girls in the three point shooting contest and it looks like McChesney is accurate when unguarded. The fest ended with none of the players being able to make a dunk during their dunking exhibition.

They kicked off the Hoopsfest with a Simon Says contest with Steve Max…Ryan Schmitt is our best Simon Says player…
😀😀

Aside from the hired guy (probably a package deal with HoCo) it was kind of a pitifully produced event. No lighting or deejay or any of the type of stuff you see from other programs. No speeches from the coaches, and only some minor PA announcing….Too bad because there was actually a pretty good turnout…..

Hope my take is wrong, but this made me think that this team is going to really need to grow a lot to beat many people…
Click to expand...
“The fest ended with none of the players being able to make a dunk during their dunking exhibition.”

Seriously???
 
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Bdub777

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CaliRdBrd said:
“The fest ended with none of the players being able to make a dunk during their dunking exhibition.”

Seriously???
Click to expand...
This was probably not quite correct. Most of the tries missed and at least the last six or so tries in a row did not go down, and then they quit trying….in fairness, they were making some high difficulty attempts and I think Dan was afraid someone would get hurt, but it was kind of anticlimatic. My earlier post was probably a bit too negative, but my past optimism is waning….
 
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cpacmel

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I'll give my 2 cents for what that's worth (less than 2 cents probably).

The Simon Says thing was cute, but ran too long and the mic kept failing. Would have been really fun to have the new President and the AD take part.

Concession stand ran out of 312. That blows my mind on homecoming weekend.

The 3 point competition was just kind of ehh. Same with the scrimmage itself. Bunch of people asked me at the football game what I thought about the team based on Hoopsfest, impossible to tell. It's run and gun and open gym. Plus a bunch of players didn't take part for whatever reason. A few of the players did took bigger and stronger than last season. (Fleming Reeves Kostov). Also thought Chatman and Andrews looked more basketball ready. Though Andrews didn't play.

I can attest to dunks being made in the dunk exhibition. Lots of misses as players were trying moves that were NBA dunk contest worthy.

I didn't see Belcher. So i'm assuming he was out recruiting.

Lastly a few negatives. Neither Coach addressed the crowd at any point. No "we are excited to get started" or "Really appreciate everyone coming out" or "really hope to see everyone come out for our opener on Nov 9th". In year's past the players went into the crowd and thanked them for coming or to just interact with the fans. Maybe Covid stopped this? I always found that to be pretty cool. We didn't stay for the autograph line so I'm sure there was some good engagement there.

Also would have loved to see the AD say something. Anything. His silence is pretty deafening when it comes to all things men's basketball these days. Though I will give him credit for making the rounds on Saturday before the football game. I'll let the the experts on the football board figure out what's going on with the offense. #Ugly 🤮
 
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